Here is my take on the matter:
Mormonism is about as Christian as Christianity is Jewish.
If I went down to Congregation B'nai Tikvah near my house and said, "Shalom! I'm here to worship with you. I'm Jewish, too. I believe Moses was a prophet of God, I believe YHWH is the only true God and Lord over creation, and I believe the Law, the Prophets and the Writings are the inspired Word of God. And by the way, I'm a student at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School," they would look at me like I was insane.
All of the things I just listed are true. I do believe Moses was a prophet of God, I do believe YHWH is the only true God and Lord over creation, and I do believe the Law-Prophets-Writings (Jewish terminology for the Old Testament) are the inspired Word of God. Hell, I even speak some modern Hebrew, which a lot of Jews these days don't even do. However, as a Christian, I have re-interpreted and added to what it means to believe in all of those things to the extent that I am now best categorized as a member of another religion. For example, when Christians say that they believe in the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4, "Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one"), Jews usually respond that this is perfect nonsense; one cannot believe that YHWH is three and one at the same time. If you follow Christian theology though, it's not really that Christians are non-Jewish. They're supra-Jewish. They're the true Jews. They're the next step that Judaism should have evolved to but didn't.
And so it is with Mormonism. It is not that Mormons do not believe in the divinity and atonement of Jesus Christ, the Bible, and a triune Godhead. They most certainly do. However, they have re-interpreted and added to what it means to believe in these things to the extent that they are best categorized as another religion. It's not so much that they're non-Christian as that they're supra-Christian. According to them, they're the true Christians. They're the next step that Christianity should have evolved into but didn't.
I have little problem with letting Mormons call themselves Christians. I believe the matter is polemical and emotionally-charged in nature, and that too many evangelical Christians are spending their time arguing over the matter instead of discussing more important things. I also believe that Mormonism could reform into a religion that fits better under the umbrella of what Christianity is. We'll see where it goes.
Gadianton Plumber wrote:Is there a point where a faith is not Christian?
In practical terms, a very strong indicator of problematic doctrine is when a faith completely rejects the baptisms of other Christian churches. Off the top of my head, I cannot think of a single church which mandates that other Christians get re-baptized upon conversion that does not deviate from traditional Christianity in major ways. Other than the landmarkist controversy among the Baptists, that is.
Please note that currently both the Roman Catholic and Orthodox traditions will accept the baptisms of Christians from other Trinitarian traditions.